OPM chief Katherine Archuleta resigns

Katherine Archuleta, the embattled director of the Office of Personnel Management, resigned July 10 in the wake of two massive hack attacks against her agency that compromised the data of more than 21 million Americans. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Archuleta resigned "of her own volition." He said Archuleta realized that the technology challenges now facing OPM "require a manager with a special set of skills." President Barack Obama believes "it's quite clear that new leadership" with unique skills is "badly needed" at OPM, Earnest said. Earnest said Archuleta did some good things at OPM, including installing new security systems that enabled officials to detect one of two major hacks against the agency.

The resignation comes just one day after Archuleta announced that a hack of background investigation files stored by the agency had resulted in the theft of highly sensitive data from about 21.5 million Americans who applied for federal jobs that require a background clearance. That data included health records, fingerprints and Social Security numbers for both job applicants and their spouses and friends.